Oct. 28, 2013

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is tackled by Ryan Pickett (79) as B.J. Raji (90) pursues in the second quarter of Sunday night's game against the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome. Evan Siegle/Press-Gazette Media

Written by

Eric Baranczyk and Cliff Christl

Press-Gazette Media correspondents

The Minnesota Vikings’ quarterbacks might be in worse straits than Allstate’s Mayhem and the linchpins of their once-vaunted defense might be aging, but Adrian Peterson appeared to be no less a back Sunday night than the one that rushed for 409 yards in two regular-season games last year against the Green Bay Packers.

Peterson is the one back in the league that can run over you, make you miss and run by you. Hamstring issues or not, his exceptional speed, balance and leg strength, as well his ability to run behind his pads and accelerate into contact were all still evident.

That’s why holding him to 60 yards with a long of 17 was the most impressive aspect of the Packers’ dominance of the Vikings, especially when you consider Clay Matthews, probably their best run defender, didn’t play.

For the Packers, a big difference between this season and last is their defensive front is controlling the line of scrimmage despite only one change in their three-man base front. But that change, Johnny Jolly for C.J. Wilson, gives the Packers two unusual 335-pound-plus athletes on each side of Ryan Pickett.

It’s an ideal combination, especially now that Pickett no longer has the quickness to make plays down the line the way he did at times when he was younger.

The program says Jolly has a 35-pound advantage over the 290-pound Wilson. In reality, the difference might be 50 pounds or more. But size isn’t what separates them as players. The guess here is Wilson is the stronger of the two in the weight room and maybe just as powerful on the field.

The key is Jolly, big belly and all, is the better athlete and makes more plays. He’s especially adept at getting those long arms of his extended and then getting his hands on the jersey number of the lineman across from him. That’s where Jolly gets his leverage and what allows him to play a more lively game.

Wilson, because he’s a lesser athlete, plays more deliberately.

On the other side, B.J. Raji isn’t showing up on the stat sheet — he had one tackle against the Vikings — but he’s having an outstanding year. He’s not in there to shoot gaps and get sacks. He’s in there to read first and cover two gaps in the run game.

Raji always has had an exceptional first step, so he’s more likely than the others to penetrate and blow up plays. But this season he seems to be doing a better job of staying low, sticking to his assignment and holding his ground.

Pickett is the Packers’ Vince Wilfork, an immovable object. A good example was a play with 3 minutes, 7 seconds to go in the second quarter when he split a double-team block and dropped Peterson for no gain.

Another upshot of the Packers’ improved play up front is that their inside linebackers are pressing the line more and making more tackles for 1- or 2-yard stops rather than 4 or 5.

But take nothing away from A.J. Hawk. He appears to be lighter and quicker and playing with more aggression than ever. Case in point: His tackle of Peterson with 5:59 to go in the first quarter where he shot a gap and dropped him for no gain.

Two plays before Micah Hyde’s punt return, Jamari Lattimore made a similar play. He shot his gap and stopped Peterson for 2 yards.

Matthews makes those plays near or behind the line from his outside post, but they’ve been few and far between for the Packers’ inside backers. Sunday night, even on some plays where the inside backers didn’t make the tackle, they at least made contact closer to the line of scrimmage, leaving less room for Peterson to squeeze out of trouble.

Mike Daniels

Daniels has a motor that doesn’t stop. If his first pass rush move doesn’t work, he counters. He might be limited due to his lack of height, but he makes up for it with technique and second effort.

Andrew Quarless

For the Packers’ next-man-up philosophy to work, the coaching staff can’t be hidebound. Jermichael Finley was more of an overgrown wide receiver who posed serious matchup problems for opposing defenses. Quarless is more of a prototypical tight end — or at least what was the model before it became a position for ex-basketball players. He’s a better blocker than Finley and maybe more sure-handed.

The bottom line is both have strengths and limitations. And that’s where the Packers’ coaches come in. Yes, Aaron Rodgers makes their job easier, but it also seems obvious that a big part of why the Packers are able to overcome injuries is because their coaches adapt to their personnel.

For example, to take advantage of Quarless’ blocking, the Packers ran a gap play — something that’s not part of their normal zone-blocking scheme — with a pitch right to Eddie Lacy. Quarless blocked down on the defensive end while right tackle Don Barclay pulled behind him. Lacy ran it three times in the second half for gains of 9, 8 and 6 yards.

The key to the play is Quarless holding his ground and not getting driven back into the way of the pulling tackle.

Nelson's 76-Yard TD

Clearly, that was another play put in to minimize Finley’s absence. In effect, Jordy Nelson lined up as a split tight end — 2 or 3 yards from the tackle — where the defense never expected him to be. Quarless lined up on the other side split to the boundary while two wide receivers were outside Nelson. It was an unscouted look and created a mismatch: Nelson vs. a linebacker.

Chad Greenway is a good backer with good speed and length, but he wasn’t going to run with Nelson on a tight end route down the seam.

When you think about it, Nelson is 6-foot-3 and maybe 25, 30 pounds shy of being a tight end. So he was perfect for that play. Unless his receiver had some height to him, Rodgers wouldn’t have been able to make that throw over the middle of the defense.

David Bakhtiari

At age 31, Jared Allen might not be the player he was, but Bakhtiari took him out of the game. Bakhtiari does a good job with his hands. Both run blocking and pass blocking, he gets them inside the frame of his opponent. That’s somewhat unusual for a rookie to be that sound with his techniques.

Marshall Newhouse had the feet to play left tackle, but never played well with his hands. And because he didn’t punch well — he’d get his weight out over his feet. That’s where he’d get in trouble against Allen. Bakhtiari has better hands and, in turn, does a better job of keeping his balance.